"[The storm] had a significant impact on application volumes on the East Coast," said Mike Fratantoni, MBA's Vice President of Research and Economics. "Applications fell more than 60% compared to the prior week in New Jersey, almost 50% in New York and nearly 40% in Connecticut."

Why Jamie Dimon should thank Ben Bernanke

Record low rates have made mortgage borrowing cheaper than even just a year ago, when rates were thought to be extremely favorable. At the time, 30-year loans had rates of about 4%.

A homebuyer today would save about $27 a month for every $100,000 borrowed, compared with last November. That's a savings of $486 a year on a typical mortgage balance of $150,000.